The CNN Political Ticker has been named the best political blog.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The CNN Political Ticker Thursday was named the best political news blog by Editor & Publisher and Media Week Magazines.

The magazines also named CNN.com the best news Web site with over 1 million unique visitors a month.

The annual "EPpy Awards" were announced this afternoon during a luncheon ceremony during the annual Interactive Newspaper Conference and Trade Show in New Orleans.

"The 2009 EPpy Awards mark the 14th consecutive year of the program, which honors the best Web sites in the media world, including newspapers, TV/cable, radio and magazines," according to Editor & Publisher.

The nearly 400 entries in this year's contest were evaluated by almost 50 judges.

Ron Silver is seen in this 2006 photograph. He had a recurring role in TV's The West Wing.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Actor and political activist Ron Silver, who played a recurring role in TV's presidential drama "The West Wing," and who also let his political views play out in real life, died Sunday after a two-year battle with esophageal cancer, according to a colleague.

Robin L. Bronk, executive director of The Creative Coalition, said Silver, a New York native, died in his sleep with his family around him.

"Nothing could hold Ron back, not even a debilitating illness. His contributions as an artist and activist will never be forgotten," said Bronk, who runs an organization founded in 1989 by Silver, actor Christopher Reeve and other prominent figures in the arts as a political advocacy organization for the entertainment industry.

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A mayor has resigned for sending an offensive e-mail.

(CNN) – A California mayor is stepping down following an outcry over a racist e-mail, CNN's Kara Finnstrom reports.

Simple math says Democrats are more likely get caught up in a scandal, Carville says.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - You know, people will insist that 2008 had 366 days. I don't believe it. I think it had 36,066 days.

It certainly felt much longer than any year that I've ever experienced. Only time will tell what's in store for us in 2009, but first I have a few predictions.

Internationally, I believe there will be a peace agreement between Israel and Syria in the next 18 months. It is something that will be a priority for the incoming Obama administration.

In domestic politics, my first prediction is one that pains me to make, but I'll make it anyway.

The Democratic Party has had a recent run of corruption and sex scandals. Mathematicians say that there are no such things as streaks and that the last event has nothing to do with the next. The only people who disagree are crapshooters and political operatives. Since I am both, I firmly believe that there are streaks and that political scandals happen in clusters.

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Barack Obama will take office with a big to-do list in front of him.

(CNN) - This past year was full of unexpected twists and turns on the campaign trail.

With a new president taking over and a host of problems awaiting him, there's no telling what will happen in 2009.

CNN's political analysts and contributors offered up some of their predictions for the upcoming year:

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The music video for American Blues Vol. 1 has become very popular online.

(CNN) – Indie rocker Pete Yorn was depressed. He woke up in Hawaii on the Fourth of July and read the paper. There was a short article about an Optimist Club disbanding .

“Even they were going bad, on the economy and the state of union, and everyone was just kind of freaking out, ” he said.

So he did what indie rockers do: He knocked out a song and sent it to a few friends.

He says he wrote the song, "American Blues Vol. 1," in about five minutes.

“It was a beautiful paradise and it hit home even more for me. I was feeling all this negativity in such a beautiful place,” he told CNN by phone from Omaha, Nebraska, where he’s working on his next album.

The song touches on the campaign and the economic crisis with lines like: “You love your house/Now give it back,” and “keep beaming through the pledge of allegiance cos you aint dead yet.”

Yorn is a Gold Record-selling artist signed to Columbia records, but he put this song out on his own.

A boyhood friend from New Jersey created a mashup video with the news of the day and the video for "American Blues Vol 1" has gone viral. It was a hit on Yorn’s Myspace page and soon got posted all over social networking and video-sharing sites like Youtube and Rock the Vote’s blog. Yorn says it’s gotten more than 250,000 hits and its even got the attention of the McCain campaign. The musician says they’ve had some discussions with the Republican nominee’s campaign about the song and the video, but he wants to keep it nonpartisan. He says the message is simple, get out and vote.

You can see the video for yourself on Yorn’s page at myspace/peteyorn

CNN Anchor Don Lemon talks politics with Ludacris and Tommy Lee

ATLANTA (CNN) - I’m not exactly sure how it happened. But yesterday I found myself involved in an intense discussion about politics in the middle of the newsroom with…. Wait for it…. rapper Ludacris and rocker Tommy Lee. The two men were here to promote their new reality show “Battleground Earth.” In the show both artists try to out green each other while trying to coax viewers into environmental consciousness.

Out of the gate I asked about green backlash. Many people feel like this entire “going green” movement has become more marketing than reality. They agreed that while people might see it that way, it’s not necessarily so, at least in their view.

Tommy Lee admits he’s not a political junkie - he says he rarely watches television or listens to news reports. So he had no opinion on the presidential candidates’ environmental policies. In fact, he had no opinions on any of their policies. “Man, tell you the truth, I only listen to music,” he said in front of the entire room and about four cameras. He seemed sincere. I didn’t press him.

Ludacris, however, was very opinionated. He very strongly said to me, “I support Barack Obama.” He is happy with Obama’s environmental policies, and keenly aware of just how much attention this election is garnering from the American people. But when I tried to press him on other issues like race, religion and HIV in the black community, he steered the conversation back to his stance on the environment. He did promise, however, to address those issues with me in another interview at another time. Smooth. Ludacris has come a long way in a short time: from rapper to social activist to environmental cheerleader.

As he and Tommy Lee walked off, entourage and reality TV cameras in tow, I thought to myself: if someone had told me at breakfast that I’d be talking with Tommy Lee and Ludacris later in the day about the environment and politics I would have called them a liar, which just goes to show, you never know. For hanging out just a bit with music superstars, I got mad props from my colleagues here at CNN.

Ex-presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have stayed in the public eye since leaving office.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Shortly before leaving the White House in 1829, John Quincy Adams reportedly said, "There is nothing more pathetic in life than a former president."

If he had had a crystal ball, Adams might have tweaked that statement to say there is nothing more lucrative in life than to be a former president.

Last Friday, we learned that the Clintons have made a whopping $109 million since 2001. Bill Clinton has brought in almost $52 million from speeches generally going for $250,000 a pop.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and the nearly 20-plus other presidential hopefuls were not the only politicians participating in the money chase last year. Congressional candidates – incumbents and challengers – raised more than $500 million for their own campaigns in 2007, according to a new analysis released by the Federal Election Commission.

After crunching the numbers, the FEC concluded that candidates running for the Senate raised $164.5 million last year, while those seeking House seats took in nearly $343 million. The 2007 House total is a 22 percent increase from 2005 – the most recent comparable year. As the FEC notes it is difficult to compare Senate data to previous election cycles because different states hold contests every two years.

The FEC looked at 102 Senate and 929 House candidates.

Read the highlights after the jump

Highlights:

- Comedian turned Senate candidate Al Franken raised nearly $7 million from individual contributors to lead that category;

- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was the top recipient of donations from political action committees and other committees taking in more than $2.1 million;

- Niki Tsongas, who won a special House election in 2007 to keep a Massachusetts seat in Democratic hands, was the top recipient of individual contributions with $2.1 million;

- House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel took in nearly $1.6 million from political action committees and other committees to lead that category.

Click here to see the full report: http://www.fec.gov/press/press2008/20080407candidate/20080407candidate.shtml

– CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

Watch why many immigrants fear they will be unable to vote.

(CNN) - Over a half million legal immigrants who applied for citizenship may not be able to vote due to overwhelming demand, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

CNN's John King takes a look at the different directions the GOP may take in 2008

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Following the 2006 election losses, CNN's John King reports the Republican Party is at a crossroads.